Q&A about ASCA-C

So many snowfighters are earning their certification these days through the Accredited Snow Contractors Association. In fact, a lot of buzz has been building around ASCA-C over the last year, along with a few questions. Here’s what I’ve been hearing.

So what is ASCA-C? This certification is a program developed by your peers in the professional snow and ice industry to earn a risk-management-based certification.

The risk-management focus stems from the tremendous input received from the outside world. The ASCA worked closely with the insurance industry and property management industry, along with input from the legislative community, to develop a certification program that would help mitigate risk for snow and ice management companies, their clients (property managers), the insurance companies and ultimately, reduce the risk of slip-and-fall liability. This certification was developed by the ASCA’s education committee, made up of snow and ice management companies. Much of the education was driven by the insurance world’s need for better documentation, training and risk-management practices by our industry.

How do you earn your ASCA-C? The education committee wanted to make sure this certification was easily accessible to the industry, cost effective and not solely intended for company owners but for their key employees, as well. Therefore, we launched ASCA-C as an online educational resource accessed via the Learning Center on the ASCA’s website, www.ascaonline.org. In the Learning Center, you will find the 10 initial courses to earn ASCA-C. These courses, at $15 each, cover the basics of risk management. To earn your initial ASCA-C, the committee requires that 101-level courses be taken first. The 201-level courses are designed for the subsequent year of certification in mind.

What’s the bottom line? This is about reducing risk for those in the professional snow and ice management industry. ASCA-C is the beginning of that process. That leaves only one final question: What are you waiting for?

The author is executive director of ASCA.